Film record card



J. F. LANGAN FILM RECORD CARD Filed June 27, 1945 June 20, 1950 PatentedJune 20, 1950 UNITED STATES EATENT QFFCE 21,511,859 FILM RECORD CARDJohn F. Langa-n, Washington, D. C., assigner, by mesne assignments, toFilm` "N File Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporationof` DelawareApplication June 27, 1945, SerialNo. 601,857.

3 Claims. 1.

This invention relates to record cards adapted forA mounting microfilm,still and motion picture lm and the like. It is desirable to mount suchiilm on cards so that it canbe stored and handled conveniently, and`projected for inspection or copied photographically, While at the sametime the cards provide means for indexing, classification. and sortingof the films. The present invention relates more particularlyto cardsprepared for quick and easy application of the lm by the user, but insuch a form that they can be handled and distributed convenientlywithout the lms as an article of commerce.

The utility of card record systems of this nature is illustrated by mycopending. application Serial No. 592,931, iiled May l0, 1945. Forexample, the films may be mounted in cards periorated for` use` withYsorting and classifying machines of types that are well known andvgenerally used in business work, and that enable quick and easy` sortingand classification of the cards according to the location of theperforations. In other cases, it may be desired to mount the lms incards of other types such as. an alpha- `betically arranged verticalcard index. In such systems, as disclosed in the aforesaid application,the nlms should be mounted in apertures in the cards so that they can beprojected While at the same time all ofthe edges of the iilms should besecured so that they do not project out from the faces of the cards andcause one card to catchl on another.

The present invention provides a card that can be supplied in quantityto users of such systems in a form enabling the quick and easyapplication or a nlm by the user. By way of example, the invention isdescribed and illustrated with reference to a sorting machine cardintended for subsequent perforation. It will be understood, however,that the invention is notrestricted to l such4 cards but is applicableas Well to cards for other types of record systems as indicated above.

lOne embodiment of the invention is illustratedv the accompanyingdrawings, but it is to be expressly understood' that. the@ drawings@refer messes f. ilustratien only and. are.. not t9. be construed as ade nition of the limitsy of the invennen, reference being had toV theappended claims for this purpose.

in the drawings.,

Fig. 1 is a perspective View and Fig. 2 a sec.- tion lillustrating thefirst stage in the preparation of a card embodying the invention; 'i

E1s-. is. a. persreeiiv View @1.1.1.1 Fie. 1 e ee@- tion illustrating. alater stage in the preparation ofthecard;

Fig. 5 is a perspective View and Fig. 6 a section illustrating a stilllaterv stage;

Eig. '7 is a perspective View andFig. 8 a section of the nished card.;and

Fig. 9 is a section on the line S-Sof Fig. 3.

Fig. l shows one, end cfa sorting machiner card I of.y the usualvrectangular shape and thin flexible material. Across the top of thecard. are the usual column headings as indicated generally` at 2, anddown the endof theA card are numerals indicated generally at 3 whichrepresent horizontal rows. Iy-he intersections between the columns, androWs are adapted to be perforated according to a code ot the.characteristics or the films to be inserted in the cards. These may bemicrolms of accounting records, reports or correspondence, microi'ilmsof maps, engineering drawings and the like, frames from motion picturefilms, still picture frames, etc.

An aperture 4 is cut in the card at a suitable point, for example, nearits bottom edge 5 the size of the aperture being just great enough toaccommodate the film to be inserted; The dimensions of the aperture Willaccordingly'vary considerably with the type and size of film used,but'vvill usually correspond to one ot a'relatively. few standard filmsizes. The iilm should t entirely Within the 4aperture and close to its.edges, and the. aperture will accordingly be substantially rectangularto; correspond with the usual shape of the nlm.

The next step as illustrated by Figs. 3 and 4 is, to, apply a sheet 6.of adhesive. material to one side.I ofy thef'card 4and coveringy theaperture 4* therein, preferably'on the front of the card in the case ofsorting machine cards. The, she'et is coated with adhesive onlyA on theside next the` card so that its. outer'surface is not sticky, on theother. hand the adhesive coatingv is exposed tli'roughoiu'.l the areaofthe aperture 4 to receive and hold the film securely in place when itis subsequently inserted by the user. Under these conditions the entirearea of the nlmy is bound tothe adhesivefand particularly all of ftheedges of the. lm are held down so that they can not buckle or otherwiseproject out fromfthe. surface of the card.

, 'Ijhe sheet 6 is preferably thin relative to the card soas not toincrease unduly' the thickness of-a stack ot cards, and in the casethusA far described'it mlust also` betransparent toA per,- mit`Vprojection of Vthe film and resistantf'to change` With age. lSolythatvfit Willremain smooth and clear for long periods. As disclosed inmy aforesaid application, I have obtained good results with thincellophane or the like coated on one side with a slow-acting, inertadhesive such as the adhesive marketed under the names Clearseal andDuraseal. Such materials can be obtained in Jthicknesses as small as0.00088" as compared with a thickness of 0.0067" of the usual sortingmachine card. Hence there is no substantial increase in the thicknessesof the card, especially when the adhesive is applied under pressure.

In some cases it may be desired to market the card with the continuoussheet of adhesive 6 covering the entire opening, although as describedbelow the central part of the adhesive will often be removed. Assumingthat the continuous sheet is to be used, a temporary cover sheet 'l ofglassine paper or the like is next applied to the exposed adhesive inthe card aperture. To eliminate projecting edges and to avoid increasingthe thickness of the card, the cover sheet l is cut to t entirely Withinbut close to the edges of the card aperture 4, and since the thicknessof the cover sheet is less than that of the card, it lies in the cardaperture below the surface of the card as shown in Fig. 4. Glassinepaper and the like has at least one side that is smooth and glassy, andthis side of the cover sheet is applied against the adhesive so that thecover sheet is held securely in place but can easily be stripped ol.When the film is to be applied, a corner or edge of the cover sheet canbe lifted by a sharp instrument and the sheet stripped off forapplication of the film. However, during distribution and marketing ofthe cards, in running them through perforating machines, and in fact forall handling and usage of the cards prior to application of the lm, thecover sheet protects the adhesive and prevents sticking.

Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate a further step which may be used before thecover sheet 1 is applied, and comprises forming an opening in the sheet6 of corresponding shape to the card aperture 4 but of smallerdimensions and lying within the area of the aperture, leaving a margin 8of exposed adhesive extending all the way around the aperture. In thiscase, all of the edges of the film which is subsequently inserted by theuser are rrnly bound to the adhesive as before, but the major part ofthe iilm is not covered so that there can be no interference with lighttransmission through the nlm. This arrangement is particularly desirablewhere accurate detail is necessary in projection or reproduction, as inthe case of ilne lines on a map or mechanical drawing, etc. In this casealso the adhesive material is preferably transparent as described above,but it is possible to insert a film having only a small exposed area sothat none of the actual picture is covered by the adhesive and in thiscase transparency is not necessary.

The card is completed for distribution to users by the addition, asshown in Figs. 7 and 8, of the temporary cover sheet 1 as describedabove. In this case the cover sheet serves a dual function. It coversthe opening in the card and eliminates an open hole which might catchand tear in handlingthe card, and it also covers the exposed adhesive sothat the cards do not stick to one another. To facilitate removal of thecover strip, one of the edges 8 of the adhesive sheet is provided with amore or less V-shaped notch 9, and the edge of the cover sheet 1 isprovided with a similar but inverted notch l0,

these notches registering as shown in Figs. 7 and 9 to provide a smallopening. To remove the cover sheet, the card is held with adhesive sheet5 uppermost and a pencil point or similar pointed instrument is insertedin the opening, tearing the cover sheet I so that its torn edges can begrasped easily and the sheet stripped oif the adhesive.

For certain purposes the location of the hole formed by the registeringnotches becomes important. For example, when such a card is per foratedfor use in business machines and then run through a duplicating machine,this hole might register with one of the contact brushes and causeimproper perforation of the duplicate cards. However, these brushestraverse the card along the horizontal rows indicated by numerals 3, andhence the hole may be placed between two of these rows.

Since the cover sheet 1 iits entirely within the card aperture as shownin Figs. 4 and 8, the edges of the cover sheet are below the surface ofthe card so as to minimize the danger of catching the edge of anothercard against the cover sheet. Also the cards can be run through businessmachines such as perforating machines, duplicating machines,interpreting machines, and sorting machines before the lm is applied,the cover sheet providing a continuous card surface for engagement bythe usual friction transporting elements which feed the cards throughthe machine.

In using such cards in sorting machines, they are normally fed face downwith the bottom edge 5 as the leading edge, the cards being fed one byone from a stack. Hence it will be seen that the leading edge of theopening 1 in the adhesive sheet 6 and the trailing edge of the cardaperture 4 slide across one another. To minimize danger of catching asthese edges cross, one of them preferably extends in non-parallelrelation to the other so that they tend to make point contact instead ofline contact. Referring to Figs. 5 and 7, this result may beaccomplished conveniently by making the edge of the adhesive sheetslightly V-shaped as indicated at Il.

It will be understood that the adhesive sheets 6 and the cover sheets lmay if desired be cut from a continuous supply. 'I'he type of adhesivematerial described above, for example, can be obtained in rolls orsheets with the adhesive covered by a, strip of glassine paper or thelike that must be removed before the adhesive material can be used, andthis cover strip may be separated and cut to form the cover sheets 1 atthe same time the adhesive is cut to provide the adhesive sheets 6. Theadhesive sheet and the cover sheet are then recombined on the card asdescribed above.

The nished card as described above comprises a product which can beproduced rapidly and in large quantities and can be stored, packaged andshipped or otherwise handled in stacks without diil'iculty. As there issubstantially no increase in thickness, the cards stack ilat withoutwarping, which is of primary importance with business machine cards. Thecards can be purchased in quantity and used one by one as needed to addadditional films to collections of the types mentioned simply bystripping off the cover sheet and substituting the iilm. The cards are,of course, suitably labelled, indexed, perforated, etc., as the case maybe, depending on the nature of the films and the type of record systememployed.

While only two embodiments of the invention have been illustrated anddescribed in detail, it will be understood that the invention is notrestricted thereto but is capable of a variety of embodiments, and itwill be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes can bemade in the size, shape and arrangement of the elements of the cards andin the materials used without departing from the spirit of theinvention. Reference should therefore be had to the appended claims fora definition of the limits of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A record card for mounting microfilm and the like comprising a thinsingle ply flexible card adapted for use in punch card classicationsystems and having an aperture therein, a thin sheet of pressuresensitive adhesive material which does not substantially increase thethickness of the card secured to the card on one side and only aroundthe edges of said aperture and extending across said edges and over atleast part of said aperture with the adhesive exposed toward theopposite side of the card, and a temporary thin cover sheet fittingwithin said aperture secured to said exposed adhesive and forming withthe adhesive material a continuous card surface over the aperture at oneside of the card, said cover sheet being removable for insertion of afilm and the like in said aperture.

2. A record card for use in punch card classification systems comprisinga thin flexible single ply card having an aperture for mounting microlmand the like therein, the surface of said card also bearing indicia forthe location of punch openings apart from said aperture to adapt thecard for mechanical sorting and classification, a thin sheet of pressuresensitive adhesive material which does not substantially increase thethickness of the card secured to the card on one side and only aroundthe edges of said aperture,

said sheet having a margin projecting into said aperture around itsedges but leaving the major portion of said aperture uncovered and saidmargin having adhesive exposed toward the opposite side of the card, anda temporary thin cover sheet fitting Within said aperture secured tosaid exposed adhesive and forming with said adhesive material acontinuous card surface over said aperture at one side of the card, saidcover sheet being removable for insertion of a film and the like in saidaperture.

3. A record card as defined in claim 2 in which the aperture in the cardis a rectangular aperture and the marginal edges of the adhesivematerial project into the aperture and one edge thereof extends in anon-parallel direction to the opposite edge of said aperture.

JOHN F. LANGAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,361,703 Fennelli Dec. 7, 19201,467,103 Hodgson Sept. 4, 1923 1,498,895 Theriault June 24, 19241,500,025 Mayer July 1, 1924 1,967,534 McClean July 24, 1934 2,124,906Bryce July 26, 1938 2,165,250 George July 11, 1939 2,206,206 Smith July2, 1940 2,252,632 Jones Aug. 12, 1941 2,256,399 MacHarg Sept. 16, 19412,291,173 Simpson July 28, 1942 2,295,000 Morse Sept. 8, 1942 2,329,007Simon et al Sept. 7, 1943 2,354,049 Palmquist July 18, 1944 2,375,308Lamb May 8, 1945

